Friday 8 August 2008

Amy Winehouse leaves hospital




Singer Amy Winehouse was fired from hospital this dawn after receiving
emergency treatment for a reaction to "medication".










A spokeswoman for University College Hospital, where the Rehab star fagged the
night, said she was ushered out via a individual exit in short after 9.45am.





She was said to be in good spirits after a "well-off night".





An ambulance was called to the 24-year-old's house in Camden, north London,
yesterday evening later she suffered the reaction to medication, according
to her spokesman, Chris Goodman.









Winehouse's father, Mitch, was believed to have spent the night at the
singer's bedside. He entered the hospital at 11.50pm and asked reporters and
photographers to leave the kin alone.



However, when asked how his daughter's precondition was, he held up a suitcase of KFC
and replied: "This is how serious it is."





The vocalist has publicly battled health problems latterly, with the
imprisonment of her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, causing obvious stress.





She was caught on tV in January apparently smoke crack cocaine in footage
obtained by the Sun newspaper.





She also spent a stint in rehab before well-received performances at the
Grammys in February.





Then in June, sets at the Glastonbury fete and the Nelson Mandela 90th
birthday concert were thrown into doubt when she collapsed at place and
underwent tests.





Her latest panic began yesterday when an ambulance was called to her home at
8.40pm.






















More info

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Oscar winner Crash becomes TV series

The Oscar-winning film 'Crash' is to become a TV series.
The drama will be shown on the Starz network in the US this year and the film's director, co-writer and producer, Paul Haggis, and co-writer and producer, Bobby Moresco, are among those involved in the new show.
This is only the second time a film which has won the Best Picture Oscar has been turned into a TV series: 'In the Heat of the Night' was the first.
Commenting, Haggis said: "I'm very happy that Lionsgate [the show's co-producer] and Starz have decided to develop 'Crash' into a series. Ironically, my initial impulse was to present the material in a format for television. I am thrilled it's coming full circle and can't wait to see how it expands and transforms."
Production on the 13-episode first series is set to begin in the spring.
Haggis' new film, 'In the Valley of Elah', is currently in cinemas. Read the review here.

Friday 27 June 2008

Gig review: The Mars Volta in Auckland (+pics)

Is it self-indulgent twaddle or live music at its most powerful? Reviewer Chris Schulz has his senses awakened by prog-metal act The Mars Volta.

The Mars Volta
Where: Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland
When: Thursday, June 26

You don't go to a Mars Volta show expecting to hear hit singles. For starters, they don't have any - and if they did they wouldn't play them anyway.

Instead, the prog-metal act - comprised of former At the Drive-In members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López  - like to provide a more challenging listening experience.

They've proved that fact over the course of four otherworldy albums, peaking with last year's The Bedlam in Goliath - a record based around the concept of a haunted ouija board.

And the seven-piece act like to be just as challenging live, if their uncompromising Logan Campbell Centre show was anything to go by.

There's no witty banter from front man Bixler-Zavala. There are no gaps between songs. Heck, most tracks don't even have structured choruses or verses. 

Instead, the band allows their songs, rhythms, instruments - and often each other - to crash around like dodgem cars at a carnival. You can try and nod your head, but it won't be in time.

But that's the entertaining thing about live Mars Volta experience: Watching them lose control, and then seeing if their attempts to reel it all back in succeed. Sometimes they do, occasionally they don't.

Yep, there were plenty of meandering, seemingly pointless moments during the two-and-a-half hour show in which shoegazing was compulsory.

But there were times when the band seemed to peak together that made it all worthwhile.

Like the pummeling version of Goliath's Aberinkula in which Rodríguez-López showed off the kind of skills hours on Guitar Hero won't teach you.

Then there was Wax Simulacra - a stunningly short song that earned a loud round of applause, probably because of the ridiculous amount of restraint shown by the band to keep it under the three-minute mark.

And when Bixler-Zavala sang random lyrics from hip-hop star Ghostface Killah - taken from the single Kilo, no doubt pleasing any stoners in the audience - it proved they're not entirely joyless hermits. 

To the casual listener, The Mars Volta experience is probably nothing more than self-indulgent twaddle.

But to those still standing after two-and-a-half eye-opening hours, it's no understatement to say they can awaken senses you didn't know you had.

How many bands can you say that about?

*What did you think of the show? Post your comments below.

 

 





See Also

Tim Russert Immortalized by ‘Cursed’ Rug Maker

Rob Conger's Tim Russert (2007).Courtesy of the artist
We were browsing at Chelsea's Mixed Greens gallery this week when we were struck by this particularly poignant portrait: a latched-hooked rug depicting Tim Russert. Created last year by artist Rob Conger, the 56-by-36-inch piece is made of woven acrylic yarn and is part of a series that includes portraits of Alan Greenspan and Wal-Mart's Sam Walton. "In the nineties, when everyone was gung-ho about money, like, who's the person? The person is Greenspan," he told us yesterday afternoon. "And now everyone is political, because they realize what they did by not being political for eight years, and now it's like, who's the person? And the person would be Russert."



Conger said he was a regular viewer of Meet the Press, and yesterday he wrote a post on the gallery's blog titled "Remembering Russert — And the apparent Conger Curse," in which he discusses the various people who died not long after he created a rug in their honor (Mr. Rogers, World's Strongest Man Johnny Perry). "I watched [Russert] religiously," he wrote. "I was looking to him as the 'mainstream needle' that gauged zero on the political spectrum … I thought that my show at Mixed Greens was going to foreshadow the elections as more and more people switched off American Idol (as well as Fox News, and Keith Olbermann) and turned to Meet the Press to see what 'normal' meant." For now, the rug, as well as a smaller version featuring Russert behind the Press desk, remains in the gallery unsold. —Lori Fradkin

Remembering Russert — And the apparent Conger Curse [Pit/Mixed Greens]


Orange 9mm

Orange 9mm   
Artist: Orange 9mm

   Genre(s): 
Rock
   Alternative
   Metal
   



Discography:


Ultraman vs. Godzilla   
 Ultraman vs. Godzilla

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 5


Pretend I'm Human   
 Pretend I'm Human

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 10


Tragic   
 Tragic

   Year: 1996   
Tracks: 13


Driver Not Included   
 Driver Not Included

   Year: 1995   
Tracks: 12




Vocalist Chaka Malik and guitarist Chris Traynor met in the New York hard-core isthmus Burn, and began playing together as early as 1992. With an early version of Orange 9mm, the yoke released a live EP in 1993. The recording earned the striation a contract with East West, and after picking up bassist David Gentile and drummer Matthew Cross, Orange 9mm began recording. Driver Not Included was released in 1994, and the band exhausted time touring with Helmet earlier sign language with Atlantic the following yr. Gentile left by and by in 1995, and was replaced by Taylor McLam hardly afterwards recording terminated for Tragic, with production by Barkmarket's David Sardy. Tragic was released in 1996; it would be tercet age before Orange 9mm issued a follow-up, which bore the title of Pretend I'm Human.





Transvision Vamp

Thursday 26 June 2008

Gone Without Trace

Gone Without Trace   
Artist: Gone Without Trace

   Genre(s): 
Rock: Hard-Rock
   



Discography:


Gone Without Trace   
 Gone Without Trace

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 10




 





Stan Winston -- Special-Effects Artist Behind 'Iron Man,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'Aliens' -- Dies

Chad Hugo, the 'other' Neptune, inches toward fame with N.E.R.D.








NEW YORK - Chad Hugo is nervous.

He's sitting backstage for an interview after his band, N.E.R.D., performed a rousing set in a sold-out Madison Square Garden as part of Kanye West's "Glow in the Dark" tour. He's affable and gracious, but admits that the questions are "freaking me out."

"You're like my shrink right now, and it's really scary that I'm spilling all this (stuff) to you," he says, laughing.

Maybe that's because he's not used to the spotlight. Although he's spent more than a decade as one half of The Neptunes - the superproduction duo whose whirring, funky soundscapes have become a signature in pop, R&B and hip-hop - he's always been overshadowed by the team's omnipresent face, Pharrell Williams.

Pharrell is a one-named global celebrity as famous as some of the Neptunes' superstar clients, which have included Jay-Z, Beyonce, Madonna, Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake. He's the one who makes the video cameos, gets the boldface mentions in gossip columns, has the clothing line (Billionaires Boys Club and Ice Cream sneakers, in case you didn't know) and released a solo album.

While their side group, the punk/hip-hop/R&B amalgamation called N.E.R.D., is a trio that includes friend Shay Hayley (they released their third album, "Seeing Sounds, this week), Pharrell is the lead singer and unofficial frontman while Hugo is the silent, mysterious element.

That may be changing - just a bit. Hugo has recently branched out by producing outside of the Neptunes, working on projects by Alicia Keys and Ashlee Simpson. He's looking for more creative outlets, and even says half-jokingly that he wouldn't mind a clothing line of his own.

"I used to think that being in the back was cool and it is cool," says the married, 34-year-old father of two. "But nah, you've gotta get recognized."

Not that he begrudges Pharrell, 35, whom he has known since they were kids growing up in Virginia, his time in the spotlight. "Pharrell is a talented mastermind and he gets what he deserves, he works hard and he's very creative and I don't think that anything should be taken away from that." Both use the word "brother" to describe each other.

Nor is he necessarily soliciting attention for himself. During the N.E.R.D. set, while Pharrell danced around onstage, Hugo happily blended into the background with the rest of the musicians as he played keyboards. In group interviews, while Hugo will articulately discuss the band's mission and music, he doesn't attempt to dominate the conversation (this interview was not sought out by Hugo).

Asked if he's felt overlooked at times, Hugo responds: "I don't really stress about it too much like that. . . . I never thought of it as an issue."

Yet moments later, he admits that "people wanna be praised for the work that they do . . . absolutely that's one thing that I strive for is recognition, and when you don't feel that, yeah it sucks."

The singer-songwriter Kenna, who worked with Hugo on Simpson's latest record, says his good friend is not bitter at all, and has simply chosen not to be famous.

"Chad's a really humble character and his focus is music and the furtherment of music. He has everything in his mind to make the best possible sonic jumps for music," Kenna says. "I think that Chad could be as great a frontman as anybody else but he's really focused on being the producer."

Pharrell, who calls Hugo a "brilliant collaborator," says the image of Hugo as the quiet shy type doesn't really jibe with his colourful personality.

"He's just trying not to show the world his true mad scientist and unapologetically styled humour," he says, suggesting a YouTube check to see some vintage Hugo moments. A search finds videos of Hugo tearing up the dance floor, laughing with friends and showing a much more animated persona than his typical media moments.

Unlike the single Pharrell, he's also self-proclaimed family man, who spends a lot of time with his wife and two children, ages eight and 10. "I'm like a regular dude, I'm a nerd, so I totally embrace that as much as I can. . . . There's more to life than just music."

But, of course, music remains Hugo's lifeblood. Kenna describes him as the backbone: "He's the reason why any of this stands up. Chad is prolific on all levels, from drumming to keys to arrangement to mixing . . . when you listen to anything that Chad's been involved in, if it has any colour or any depth, it's probably coming from him."

To that end, Hugo is interested in exploring music outside of the Neptunes and N.E.R.D.: He talks about wanting to play his saxophone more, and perhaps putting together another band to play with, just for fun.

But don't expect a Hugo solo album or clothing line anytime soon. For now, Hugo is committed to being a part of a team.

"I brainstorm a lot, but this is my band - N.E.R.D. is my band."

-

On the Net: http://www.n-e-r-d.com










See Also